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Chapter 6: I Exalt the Ordinary

The second question:

Osho,Your compassion towards India brings, in return, anger and condemnation towards you. Every day Indian newspapers and magazines are full of third-rate criticism against you. Even so, you keep hammering this rotten culture. What is this business? Does India deserve so much compassion?

It is because I am saying something which India has completely forgotten. It hurts. India has forgotten the truth. For thousands of years it has lived in a foggy state of mind - not only that, it has become very attached to that foggy state for the simple reason that it has nothing else to cling to. This is the only prop for its ego.

For twenty-two centuries India has been in political slavery. Now, a country existing for twenty-two centuries in slavery cannot have any source of ego as far as the political world is concerned. It cannot brag about world conquerors like Alexander the Great.

For five thousand years, India has been living in a very superstitious way. The priests have dominated India more than any country ever, and they are the most cunning people in the world. Because of their exploitation, oppression, because of their poisoning of the Indian soul for five thousand years, India has not been able to find any way into truth. They are standing like a China Wall against the truth.

It was a question of life and death for the priesthood. Either the truth or the priest - both cannot survive together, there is no possibility of their co-existence. If truth wins, the priest disappears. Hence, the truth has not to be allowed to win so the priest can go on dominating. No other country has been dominated by priests like India has. For five thousand years a spiritual slavery.

There is nothing to support the ego of the nation - no science, no technology, no richness, no political freedom, no democracy. You can see the problem. The problem is. But a nation has to depend on some props, because a nation is not a true reality, remember; it needs props.

The individual can exist without the ego because the individual is a reality and the reality has no need of the ego. But the nation, the race, the church, the state - these cannot exist without egos. Without ego they will fall apart. It is the ego that functions as a false center and keeps them together. Hence, a Buddha can exist without the ego but Buddhists cannot. Krishna can exist without an ego but Hindus cannot. Remember this always: a false entity needs a false center, otherwise it will wither away.